Mater Dei stakes claim as state's best

SANTA ANA- Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson danced after this one.

He was probably the only person at Santa Ana Stadium on Thursday night who had enough energy left to do so.

Mater Dei beat Centennial of Corona, 51-37, in a classic battle of the teams that came into this week as the top two-ranked teams in California.

There was 1,300 yards of total offense - 621 by Mater Dei and 679 by Centennial - that set a state record for combined total in one game.

Mater Dei quarterback Matt Barkley threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Mater Dei running back Robert Mojica ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Mater Dei receiver Robbie Boyer had 186 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions.

For Centennial, Ryan Bass rushed for 324 yards and a touchdown on 43 carries, and had 42 yards receiving. Quarterback Matt Scott rushed for 176 yards and a touchdown, and threw for 176 yards and a touchdown.

Rankings were at stake, with Mater Dei (5-0) No. 1 in California and Centennial (5-1) at No. 2, according to CalHiSports.com

And just for the sake of drama, there was a controversial call.

With Centennial ahead, 30-29, late in the third quarter, Mater Dei received a kickoff and fumbled it away, with Centennial recovering. Flags were thrown for facemasking by both teams. The officials ruled that the facemasking penalties occurred before the play was dead, so they ordered a re-kick.

Mater Dei then took that kickoff and drove to a touchdown, on a 1-yard run by Jaron Hytche, to the lead for good, 37-30.

Another 1-yard touchdown run by Hytche made it 44-30. The Huskies pulled within a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 65-yard scoring run by Bass, but the Monarchs put it away with 5:09 to go on a 6-yard touchdowns pass from Barkley to Chris Pinesett.

"The fans must have loved this one," Rollinson said. "We've got a great group of leaders on this team, and a great group of character kids. And Centennial's got one heck of a running back and one heck of a quarterback."

Mater Dei scored first, on a 4-yard run by Mojica. A 24-yard yard field goal by Patrick Duffy made it 10-0.

Centennial cut it to 10-7 on a 2-yard run by Bass, and the Huskies tied it on a field goal by Andrew Romaine.

A 15-yard touchdown pass from Barkley to Boyer make it 17-10, and Centennial tied it again on a 7-yard run by Scott.

Mojica scored on an 8-yard run to put the Monarchs back on top, 23-17, and it stayed that way until the third quarter.

Centennial took a 24-23 lead early in the third, but the Monarchs kept answering every score before finally taking over in the fourth.

Mater Dei opens Trinity League play next Friday at JSerra.

Centennial will play at Valley View of Moreno Valley next Friday.

It was pretty much a full house at Santa Ana Stadium, with only a few empty rows on the Centennial side. There were plenty of coaches from various colleges, scouting the many top prospects from both teams.

Mater Dei's offensive line of Bryan Kiernan, Jonathan Howse, Chris Ward, Kyle Cook, and Ben Tauanuu and tight end Sean Lanternier opened plenty of holes and kept Barkley from getting sacked.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com